Sharpening chisels—forget weaker micro bevels

Controversial though it may seem, and though adopting micro-bevel methods for sharpening chisels may seem to make sense, a freehand convex bevel actually gives exactly the same sharpness as any micro-bevel method, but takes only a fraction of the time to develop. A convex bevel keeps its edge longer, is stronger than most other bevels and needs no special equipment beyond a pair of hands. Establishing the skill to sharpen the convex camber on the bevel of a chisel is amazingly fast and when you do, you have that skill for life. On the other hand, why take ten times longer using machine methods when simple non-electric methods prove ten times faster and produce pristine results in seconds every time?

While I was teaching this in this week’s foundational workshop I though it might be helpful if you saw the sharpening technique we use and have been used for centuries in action. Stones do not have to be flat to use this method, so there is no flattening of stones as with conventional water- and oil-stone methods. This is explained more in depth in two earlier blogs 13 December 2011 Sharpening on Hollow Stones and 11 December 2011 Going against the gods – myth busting.

Sharpening plane irons

We covered sharpening the cutting irons of bench planes too and so I have yet another video we made during lunchtime of Saturday’s class that will help you to do the same with your bench planes. That will be up in a couple of days.

127 comments so far

Paul, I got your working wood book and dvd set for Christmas. I am completely sold on your sharpening method. The best part is how easy it is and how little time it takes to get back to work. I hope to post my completed European workbench soon also.

-- Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. Vince Lombardi

This is very interesting Paul. I too use only diamond stones and hone by hand, mainly because they are fast and stay flat and all I have to do is wet them a little with spray water bottle.

You have stated that you like your diamond stones partly because they remain flat, does that mean flat stones do have an advantage over hollowed stone? This seems to contradict what you are saying about water and oil stones which you say work great hollowed out. I don’t doubt that you know what you are talking about, but I just want to know if I am understanding this properly, as the there seems to be some inconsistency here.

I have never sharpened my chisels or plane blades with a convex edge before. This sounds interesting and I will certainly try it out. My only reservation is about how well it will work with the bevel down position. What is your experience with that? Another thing I noticed is that you have polished the entire bevel. What, if any, advantage is there to that?

Great post Paul. I was hoping you’d do a video about this technique on LJs.

Stefang – No doubt Paul will answer for himself, but I believe what Paul was getting at was that your stones don’t need to be flat to achieve the convex bevel. Of course, the backs of the chisels still need to be flattened to begin with and that is when it is critical to have flat stones.

This method works great. My biggest fear was to screw up, so I started out by sharpening one of the worst chisels in my shop. It was sharper using this method on oilstones, than some of my best chisels sharpened on my tormek. It was also easier to clean up. I have a full set of diamond stones coming in this week I’m just itching to use.

-- Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. Vince Lombardi

KTMM ,I am glad these work for you and I know you will enjoy the compactness of this bench. It really works and it’s one I use all the time. I just travelled in the States doing masterclasses with one and have done this for about 20 years. Enjoy!

Buffalosean, It takes about twenty minutes because it is so body-natural and intuitive too. be careful. Once you try it you’ll be hooked and become controversial like me. You’ll do what feels right to you and be doing it of your won free will instead of doing what everyone else expects of you.

NBeener,It’s not so silly. Distributing the weight over a wider surface seems to take more effort, which according to laws like “Equal and Opposite Forces make sense of silly things.

Stefang,What I am saying is that when someone uses a hollowed stone they don;t technically need to flatten the stones, but someone some years ago said that you do. That wasn’t true then and Its not true now. I went to woodworking shows and watched all of the Gurus you know and respect and watched them create a hollow and then flatten it. it became a ritualistic sharpening that was more Eastern than real. If anyone insists on using natural stones then why not simply let it hollow and use the other flat side for the flat face. At ;east that way there would be only minimal need for flattening as the flat face of the chisel rubbed over the whole face will hollow the blade on a much lesser scale.That said. In reality we never need to flatten the large flat face once it’s done initially during restoration or the first preparation of the chisel. I always flatten and polish the chisel when new or restored. Once that’s done it’s over. The only part that wears, and it’s not even wear but fracture, is the very cutting edge. We get to new unfractured steel by abrading the bevel only and not generally the flat face. That’s that fastest way to create the new cutting edge. The large flat face simply gets polished more and more with each sharpening.

Brit,You are of course right. If an existing stone is hollow and you don;t want to buy a new flat stone, flatten the large face with abarasive paper until flat. I go to 1500 grit wet and dry on a tile I prove to be flat. After that I polish the face with car polish until I see my face and the chisel is done and dusted forever pretty much.Hope you are well. Greta getting together last year. Been in the US working on the new school in New York. had a great time with a bunch of woodies there.

Hello Al,Yep. My son Joseph does a neat trick. He goes to 25,000 grit for his gouges and planes because he makes violins and cellos. He has a 3” x 3” x 10” block in a stopped cradle that clamps low in the vise. The cradle is 3 1/8” wide and 12” long with a stop at one end so that the square strop anchors against the stop. He covers each face with leather and charges each face with 15,000 chromium oxide and the next face with 18,000 and the last face with 25,000. The last face is hard leather only which he keeps free of any grit and uses purely for stropping and polishing or should i say buffing.

garagewoodworks,I suppose when I think about it there is marginally more need for additional control, but I have done this for 48 years now and find one the same as the other now. Practice makes permanent.